Oak lake is the newest match lake at Stafford and was formerly a stock pond.

The main quarry are small carp up to 2lbs with odd bigger fish and plenty of skimmers, crucians and small tench etc

We were told to expect around 100lbs to win it and 70 would be a good weight so plenty of bites to be expected.

I drew peg 5 which looked nice as it was stuck out into the lake on a small spit and I was told it was a consistent peg ... Ok, a flyer! (That's my inconspicuous net in the picture)

For company today I had match organiser, Frodo Dearlove to my left and one half of Psv's new dynamic duo, Luke Pester to my right.

Neither though were in my section as my peg was in a separate section along with the corner and end pegs.

Due mainly to lack of preparation and suitable rigs I opted for a simple approach, pellet shallow out in front and corn down the edges.

Plumbing up the margins were around a foot to 18 inches deep but I found a deeper area to my left which seemed inviting even if it meant setting up an extra rig. Frodo liked it too and set up about a foot away despite having an empty peg to his left but I'm all for sharing and watching 2 floats is double the excitement.

Most others had elected to fish on the deck further out which was a bit of a concern but never mind.

I won't go into too much detail, I had a few shallow, I never bothered with a deep rig and I caught reasonably well from my margins in the last few hours.

Frodo enjoyed himself catching from most areas including the empty peg to his left and my peg.

Luke had a very barren 4 hours before he dumped a. Load of pellet out long and fished paste over it.

For the last 2 hours he had one a chuck, it was a pleasure to behold (honest).

I ended up being Teriyaki'd which for the uneducated means lightly battered both sides.

I weighed 65-7, Luke had 66-9 and Frodo won his section with 67-15

The match was won by Luke's other half, Keith Bilder with 97-11 from corner peg 12 followed by Mike Wilson (below) with 93-6 from peg 9 (also a corner), which put me third in that section so not a great start points-wise but an enjoyable days fishing nonetheless.

And I had a clean sweep of pound coins from Pete and Steve sledgehammer Sewell helped by the fact they were both fishing for silvers!

The silvers was won by Pete Uzzell (and didn't we know it) with 16-4 from the other side of Frodo's empty peg.

(Did I mention that Will had an empty peg next to him)!

Tanners, Saturday 27 August

At this point it might be worth mentioning that most of us were staying at the Duke of York in some remote outpost about 10 minutes drive from the fishery.

And that they were hosting a beer festival over the bank holiday weekend along with live music, Barbeque etc

And that some of us decided to make the most of the facilities on offer.

I went to bed early (A few didn't)!

Anyways, I drew peg 35 which is another good peg (long walk).

34,35 and 36 are very close together and the pegs are offset to the right, presumably to make it easier to ship poles back as the speci carp lake is directly behind.

No pole for me today as I would be fishing the pellet wag / lead with the assistance of a bit of breeze that was coming from behind and slightly left.

I was to be sharing this bit of water with Keith Bilder on 34 and Pete Uzzell was on 36 which is generally considered the best peg on the lake but Pete was "suffering" slightly (see note above).

The sections were a bit wierd again today, I was in with Pete, Frodo on 3, Lionel left-hook Legge on 9 and Keith Ray on 13 (so yes, Frodo had plenty of space)

The match started frustratingly for both myself and Keith, lots of missed bites and lost foulers with the odd fish landed on both lead and wag.

It never started at all for Pete!

Keith's other half, Luke had a decent start over in the far corner (peg 1) but it wasn't to last.

Keith had a midway change of tactics and switched to paste which produced some big fish and he was by now well clear of me. I was having a bit of trouble with the wag so I took it off and employed the services of "super-wag", an 8gr, foot-long bodied effort which Pete found highly amusing despite the fact that it went under about 95% more often than his tip moved!

I ended the day with a fairly poor 53-13 but that wasn't quite as poor as Pete's 18-5

The match was won by Keith next door with 104-15 but luckily no chance of being chip-shopped today!

Silvers went to a very happy Matt Williams with 23-10 from peg 30

who was probably still laughing at his mate Pete's dismal effort

Second place went to Chris too smooth Szakacs with 103-2 from peg 18

Unfortunately Chris was "too smooth" to get off his box and get another net out so the 10lb of skimmers he chucked back proved costly!

Woodpecker, Sunday 28 August

Everybody got together at the Duke of York to celebrate Lee Waller's birthday, the celebrations weren't quite as intense as Friday night's but at least I stayed up until nearly 11 and I even dressed up for the occasion.

This time round I drew peg 8, a very long chuck to the island but the margins looked inviting, and after being battered 2 days running by Luke and Keith's "big potting" tactics I even set up a banded pellet rig for 13m.

In my section today I had Ross Sewell on 6 (peg 7 nonexistent), Keith Bilder on 12 with an easy wag chuck to the island and Ricket Ron (venue expert) on 14 so no expectations of going out in a blaze of glory today

I started on the pole after filling it in with pellet and first drop-in hooked and landed a double (happy days), second drop I bumped one so refed and went out on the wag.

Despite the conditions being perfect for it with a light breeze from directly behind it was slow, I was getting odd fish but missing most bites.

Keith was having the same problems judging by the thrashing noises coming from down there.

Around the corner it seemed Luke Pester was getting a few on the wag and Lee Waller was catching down his edge on 36.

I could see fish in my margins so I spent a torrid few hours down there, they like to take you under the tree roots and round the corner in this peg!

Many rigs and a number 6 section later I managed a total of 79-4 which was good enough for second in the section.

Keith had a "good" last hour (his words) on the wag and ended up with 148-0 which easily won the section and the overall series.

The match was won by birthday boy Lee Waller with 148-7 from peg 36

3rd place went to Luke Pester with 130-5 from peg 34.

Series Overall:

1. Keith Bilder

2. Keith Ray

3. Frodo Dearlove

4. Luke Pester

The overall silvers was a close run affair with Pete Uzzell, Matt Williams and Steve Sewell all level on points going into the final match. Matt took the honours weighing in 16-0 from peg 32.

Well done to all on making it an enjoyable weekend and thanks Lee and Will for organising

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